A Broken Soul(8)

With that, she stood and headed down the hallway, only pausing long enough to touch Sophia's shoulder and say something that made my little girl laugh. Then she was gone, leaving me feeling guilty for how I'd acted and relieved all at the same time.

What the fuck was wrong with me?





Lilly



WELL THAT WENT well, I thought sarcastically as I collapsed down into my office chair, all the while wondering what the hell Quinn Mallick's problem was. We'd been living in the same town for two years now, and that was probably the first conversation we'd ever had. And I was pretty sure it was safe to say it hadn't gone all that well.

It was like talking to a robot. He remained completely emotionless the entire time he looked at me. Dull, lifeless, like he wanted to be anywhere else at that very moment, and having to speak to me in order to enroll his daughter in dance classes was about as much fun for him as a root canal. The only good part of the entire thing was getting to talk with his lively daughter, Sophia. She was absolutely adorable. So unlike her father.

When I wasn't rambling, I was trying to think of anything I could have possibly done to offend the guy, to the point I was almost obsessing over it.

Hell, who was I kidding? I was obsessing over it. That was why, ten minutes after Quinn left, I was still wracking my brain trying to figure out what wrong I'd done to him in the very limited contact we'd had over the years.

I was so deep in thought that when my cellphone rang on my desk the sound caused me to jump. Rolling my eyes at my own ridiculousness, I snatched my phone up and smiled when I saw the name on the screen.

"Bestie!" I cried out. "I miss you so much!" More than she probably could imagine. Struggling with the knowledge of what was happening to my father all by myself was driving me out of my mind. I was bouncing back and forth between crying my eyes out and being mad at the world at the flip of a switch.

"I miss you too!" Eliza shouted in return. "What are you doing right now? You busy?"

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my ankles on the scarred wooden top of my desk. "Not unless sitting in my office with my feet kicked up counts as being busy." 

Her laughter rang through the line and made me smile. "It doesn't. But it's good you're sitting down. I have some news."

I shot up straight, dropping my feet to the floor. "Oh my God. You're pregnant!"

"How the hell did you guess that from me saying I had news? Good Lord! You're like a mind-reading ninja!"

"So it's true?" I squealed loudly. "You're preggers?" I began dancing around the office excitedly. If there'd been anyone out in the lobby to witness, they probably would have thought I was having a seizure. "How far along are you?"

"Well … " she dragged out. "I'm actually thirteen weeks."

"Thirteen weeks?!" I shouted, my voice echoing off the walls. "And I'm just finding out now?!"

"Calm down, crazy," she chuckled. "You were my first phone call. I haven't even called my dad yet. We wanted to wait until we were firmly in the safe zone. It's our first baby, you know? We talked about it and decided to wait until I was out of the first trimester."

I stopped and gave that some thought. "Okay, I can see your point. And the fact that I was the very first call means you're totally forgiven."

"Just don't tell my dad you found out first."

I crossed my heart and held my index and middle finger in the air. Even though she couldn't see me, I knew she knew I was doing it. "Swear on my life. God, Eliza, I can't believe you're gonna have a baby! I'm so happy for you. I wish I was there to celebrate."

"Well, that just means you're going to have to get your tight little butt to Denver so you can see the bump I'm already sporting!"

I giggled happily. It was amazing how just one call from my best friend could shine a light on my world when it started growing darker. "You got a deal. I'll look at my calendar and see when I'm available to come up for a weekend."

"And I can take you to one of Ethan's games. Maybe we can get you hooked up with one of his hot teammates. And stop rolling your eyes," she finished on a scold, knowing damn good and well that was what I was doing at that very moment.

"Yes to the game, no to any blind dates you might be considering in my future."

"Oh come on!" she whined. "These guys are hot, Lil! I mean like, seriously hot-"

All of a sudden Ethan's voice could be heard in the background. "Standing right here, baby."

"Oh, you know what I mean. They're seriously hot for guys not as good looking as my husband."

I burst into laughter before saying, "Nice save."